Matthew Brancaccio, Business, Technology, and Engineering: The German Way Summer 2024
A problem I had during the ‘Engineering the German Way’ program was that I found myself ‘tagging along’ with groups rather than being a part of them. After some thought I realized this was because these groups had already curated points of interests and had plans for when and how they were going to get there.
I was behind the curve in this regard. Everyone seemed to have long been planning their course of action for Munich, whereas I had not: I packed the morning of my exodus from the United States and then jumped on the plane in the same afternoon. By day four, I had noticed that my lack of preparation coincided with the fact that I was having trouble settling in with a group of friends. Naturally, people like to hang out with people who do fun things, and, if you have few ideas of what fun there is in Munich, you may have just earned yourself the title of ‘boring’.
To avoid this predicament, my advice to people participating in this study abroad is to plan your trip. Yes, of course, you should listen to the PowerPoint recommendations and the occasional trip advisor ‘top 10 sights’ list, but the real key is to read, read some more, and then develop a plan. I’m not saying that you shouldn’t practice Duolingo for two months before your trip, and that you shouldn’t book your flight far in advance. I am also not saying that you shouldn’t print multiple copies of your passport, license, and healthcare card. These are all quite necessary for your trip. But the most important part of this trip is to absorb as much culture as you can and to try to excel in a foreign environment. To do this, you need to know what you want to do in Munich before going and to coincidentally bring others along for that adventure.
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